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La Mante (2017)
Worth a Watch for Spiral (Engrenages) Fans
I have watched probably 50 of these various style of foreign noir series. Everything from The Bridge, Penoza, Trapped to Spiral (Engrenages}. Some are obviously much better than others; some are awful in spite of their inexplicable popularity. And some of the best ones fell though the cracks, like "Arne Dahl"; which I accidentally stumbled upon on an obscure review site.
They sure don't make 'em like they used to. I've had to lower my standards.
If you enjoy those types of shows than this series fits into the "worth a watch" bundle. Watchable, but it's not on the same par with Engrenages, that's for sure.
It looks and feels like a copycat of Spiral (Engrenages) to me. But, the special FX are almost distractedly bad for a modern show, sort of unintentionally funny. But the story line is good, and most of the cast plays their roles very well.
My only real problem with the show is the "soap opera" production style. it has a bit of the "General Hospital" kind of vibe. Dramatic pauses, over dressed, freshly painted stage-looking sets, overly choreographed and sorta overacted.
Some of the details are just plain stupid. For example: If a woman has been in a solitary confinement prison cell for 25 years, why is her hair and makeup absolutely perfect? She looks like an executive that just stepped out of a corporate boardroom. Her prison cell is nicer than some luxury hotels I've stayed in. That almost killed it for me in the first 15 minutes of episode #1.
In spite of all this, I have to admit that it kept me watching. I'm not finished with the whole series, but thought I'd chime in with an opinion.
Hunter Killer (2018)
Unintentionally Funny because it's so Horrifically Cliche
Take every testosterone-driven action film from the past thirty years, boil down all of the cliche "hard-ass tough guy" one-liners...all of the computer typed overlays like "TOP SECRET NEPTUNE GLACIER MILITARY FACILITY: KYVEK, RUSSIA" .....mix in all the obligatory military helicopter scenes where they're zooming over the water...... Add a solid dramatic Vagner-esq snare drum & french horn soundtrack....army boots running on various surfaces such as airplane hangers and steel platforms.....cartoonish CGI....
To be perfectly honest, we sat down to watch what we already knew was going to be recycled material. But we were in the mood for an action film anyway.
But- we all started goofing on it less that five minutes into it. You just can't help yourself, it's so stupidly predictable. Everything.
I think we lasted 35 minutes before we finally ran out of jokes. I cannot believe this has such a high rating on IMDB.
It must be people who didn't already see 1,001 identical movies over the past few decades.
After Das Boot was released there really was no more need for these types of films.
I gave it two stars because I didn't watch the whole thing. Otherwise I'd just give it one. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.
Roma (2018)
Phenomenal Cinematography - Bland Soapy Storyline
I relished every second of the framing, lighting, panning, artistic perspective.... This should be a required film for anyone who even hopes to shoot a film someday. Bravo!
Now the storyline? First let me say this: My wife was born, raised and lived in Mexico for 40 years. She also had loves films. She thought this was a stereotypical Latin American soap plot. The unavoidable tangled lives of those who have live-in domestic labor. It's only been done a million times already.
I on the other hand grew up in Philly, and know nothing about live-in domestic workers in third world countries. So, I thought it would be interesting to watch. It wasn't. It was thee thinnest plot possible.
It was an ego mastribation resume piece for a Cinematographer. Period. I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters. They were shallow roles played by B-grade performers.
Adrift (2018)
Are you kidding me? Total snoozefest Zzzzzzzz
Plot holes. Characters you don't care about. Use of flashbacks just makes it more muddy. Lots of empty drifting parts. Surprise ending not surprising at all. No chemistry between the leads. The wife and I watched this on a cruise ship last week, ironically. Totally bored, in the perfect mood for even a B- film to fill some timer after dinner. Popped this on paid close attention, and had the plot figured out 1/4 into the film. YAWN. Lot's of nothingness. I cannot believe the high ratings on this . It wasn't AWFUL- it just wasn't ANYTHING. Just floating in a crippled sailboat for a very long time having muddy flashbacks that are not interesting.
Dupla Identidade (2014)
Great Series Falls Apart and Dies
This series was a real binge-watch edgy fast paced police/serial killer drama/thriller. Unfortunately, it seems to slam on the brakes at episode 10. Suddenly everything gets slowed down. Long shots, lingering pauses, unnecessary dialogue, new characters that don't add anything to the story.
Episode 11-13 (conclusion) are completely out of pace with the rest of the series. The show frantically runs around but doesn't really do much. Now you're beginning to suspect that they're just filling time. By the 12th & 13th episodes you're yelling at your TV because it becomes stupid and impossible to buy into any more. They rely on flashbacks to fill time. Long scenes of dialogue that don't add anything to the story.
Then it sort of tuns into a soap opera. (WTF?)
It genuinely appears as though the writers just could not figure out how to end the show, so we get THREE ambiguous endings.
There's an extended scene that looks like a bad rock video from 1980's MTV. Finally the thing ends, and you sit there and say REALLY? Is that REALLY how they're going to 'end' the show?
There were quite a few characters in the story who contributed absolutely nothing to the story. Some of them had no acting skills at all.
Technical problems: It's very obvious that this show had very little budget to work with. The mic placements were bad, the sound effects were actually comical at times because they didn't match the scene. For example, in one scene they send a drone to search for someone lost in the woods. The sound they used for the drone engine was a WWII B52 bomber.
In another scene, a young girl drives her car onto a curb going about 10mph. The sound effect was of a major car accident with screeching tires and smashing glass.
Camera crew equipment was visible in a few scenes, some of the sets looked like the paint was still wet, other sites looked like high school drama class. One of the exterior scenes that was supposed to be a huge mansion was obviously an office building shot from the rear.
Finally, the music score was scream-o death metal, which did not fit at all with the show in any way. And they only had about 5 short loops to work with, so it sounded like a skipping record sometimes.
Sorry, I really loved the first 9 episodes. They could have easily wrapped it up at ten episodes. They could chop 11-13 and it would have been the same show, but tighter.
I can honestly say I've never watched a TV series completely fall apart like this before. It was embarrassing, and I can't imagine the actors were pleased with the 'ending(s)'.